Where Angels Fear to Tread
by belladonna78
Summary: Sariel is a fearless warrior who has conquered great darkness in both Heaven and Hell, yet what will come when she embarks on a mission to restore balance to the Universe? Will she give in to her heart and embrace the greatest, yet forbidden to angels, power of love? Can she give her heart wholly to Gabriel? A companion story to my SPN fic featuring Dean, Beth & Sam. Rated MA.
1. Orders from Heaven

**AUTHOR'S NOTES - WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD**

Welcome to "Where Angels Fear to Tread"!

This fic has been a long time in the writing. I had to get my head around the story I wanted to tell, and do a bit of research on it too.

It will follow the story of Dean & Beth (my stories: Highway to Hell, All Hell Breaks Loose, Hell to Pay, To Hell & Back) from the sidelines of the angels involved in their lives - Castiel, Ezekiel, Gabriel and Sariel (plus others).

Mostly it is about Castiel's search for God, Ezekiel's search for balance, and Sariel and Gabriel's blossoming human love for each other as she begins to learn about the temptations of the flesh, and what it is to give your heart truly to another.

* * *

 **ORDERS FROM HEAVEN**

* * *

It was the general consensus among those in Heaven, that angels didn't dream. This largely due to the fact that they have no need for sleep. Sariel's experience within her human vessel had been quite different.

Had she not known otherwise, Sariel could have excused her current thoughts and feelings for dreams from her vessel's original soul – but even though her vessel was hundreds of years old, she had not been around millennium ago, and therefore this was impossible. Instead, Sariel's experience was more like a day dream, filled with memories that had been cut up, stomped upon, dissected and then glued back together haphazardly.

In the lower levels of Heaven, where the boundaries between the ethereal realms start to merge with the physical, angels often found themselves caught between a more humanised version of existence. Right now Sariel was not sleeping, yet not truly awake.

She lay cushioned on a soft chaise that enveloped her in a feeling of comfort and ease, but it was far from the experience playing in her mind. She found herself drawn into worlds that had long past, places that had existed for mere moments, and experiences better left forgotten.

"Forward!" Michael shouted to the angels assembled before the Darkness. They had been created for this moment, to drive it back from the planes of Creation. With the power of their grace combined, a blinding light shot out, and in the blackest hole of existence, something pushed back. "Hold the line!"

Sariel blinked and now watched as their greatest warrior, Samael, knelt before their Father, his sword at his side. Reaching down for his arm, there was an electric transfer of red light that sizzled and popped, searing itself into Samael's forearm. She was beholding _The Mark_ that would keep back pure destruction, and it had just been awarded to their most valiant of warriors, trust given to him to hold the lock and key to keeping eternal night at bay.

With another breath, Sariel found herself horrified, watching her brother refuse to kneel before their Father's newest creation. The Mark on his arm glowed red as he glared at the Creator, and then the _human_ that stood before the gathered. "I will not pay homage to this lesser being. Where was he when you needed a warrior? Should he not bow to us? Would he be here at all if it weren't for us?" Samael demanded to know. "You love your creature more than you do the very children who risked _everything_ for you to be able to create him!"

Tears falling down her face, the heartache never seeming to pass. "What have you done?" She asked, looking at her masculine counterpart, Michael, one of their Father's finest warriors.

"What I was ordered to do," he replied.

Uriel: he who received the Revelation of their Father and shared it with his brothers and sisters. He of the Salvation and creator of the many levels of Heaven. With deep, intense eyes he watched her as she lay half-awake, half-sleeping. The strawberry-blonde curls of her vessel were a reminder that Sariel was no ordinary angel – she had spent time among humanity, and while many vessels were more demure, controlled and neat – Sariel's hair acted as a constant reminder that there was a wild streak inside, one that would never be tamed.

 _What I was ordered to do… ordered… ordered to do…_ these words echoed through her mind. She rolled back and forth on the chaise that she semi-slept on until roused from her state by her brother.

"Sister," Uriel's deep booming voice startled her awake and Sariel sat on the lounge, looking up at the dark-skinned vessel.

"Uriel, what is it?"

"We have received further Revelation," he revealed, his tone giving nothing away.

"What is it?" Sariel asked, thinking of their absent Father. He had been gone for some time, Heaven now was run by a counsel of angels called the Thrones, from one of the highest orders of angelic beings. Few of them sat higher, a part of the Seraphim and Cherubim groups. Sariel was one of them, although her duties kept her in the lower spheres of Heaven.

"The war with Hell continues, but it is growing. We have experienced greater infiltration on the lower levels.

"How?"

"Revelation shows us that we must prepare for the unthinkable. Michael is seeking you, as his counterpart, you are most worthy and prepared to lead the legions into battle at his side," Uriel revealed.

"What battle, Uriel?" Sariel asked, confused as to what war was about to be fought.

"It is coming, Sister. Soon. The demons are rising up. There is a plot afoot, and we have yet to see the full plan revealed," he said. "Michael has asked that we locate the lineage of the first son, Cain. You are to be charged with this task."

"Why me?"

"He trusts no one else with this vital piece of the puzzle," Uriel revealed. She frowned, standing up.

"Then why is he not here, asking it of me himself?"

"Michael is seeking further Revelation. He has a war to prepare for," her brother answered. Sariel did not fully understand the implication of what Michael was entrusting her with, but she knew that it had to be done – he would not ask otherwise.

"Is the lineage not covered in the Records?" She asked, and Uriel frowned, revealing that there was something amiss.

"You must reveal this to no one, Sariel, I tell you only to sate your own curiosity so you will see the importance of this task," Uriel said and she nodded, watching him intently.

"Someone has tampered with the Records, changed them. The line is not clear, nor why it has been changed. Michael has asked that you seek out Gabriel, for he carries the lineage of the chosen children. Gabriel will know the truth."

"Gabriel? No one has heard of him in centuries. How am I to find him?" Sariel asked.

"Zadkiel has revealed he is hiding on Earth."

Sariel felt a stab of concern move through her, sitting up and looking closely at her brother. "Where is Zadkiel now?"

"Recovering."

"From what?" Sariel asked. Uriel's eyes seemed to darken and he smirked, his face showing his obvious disdain toward Sariel and her sisters.

"Even after thousands of years, your lineage continues to resist the truth. Our Mother is locked away and gone, and you have been given a second chance under our Father – yet you still insist on being petulant little children."

"What have you done with our sister, Uriel?" Sariel rose to her feet, her anger coming easily to the surface to match her hair.

"We have sent her to the Healing Garden, she will recover. Next time she might be a little more forthcoming when we have questions."

Sariel glared at Uriel, but dared not push him. He had come under orders from the Thrones, and to show such obviously disregard for a Heavenly order could only bring about further pain. "You disgust me," she uttered at him, "I am the leader of my sisters, any action against them should come through me."

"You are nothing, Sariel," Uriel stated.

"My _beloved_ brother seems to think otherwise," Sariel pointed out, referring to how Michael had charged her with the task of locating Gabriel and getting the information he required. "Now get out of my sight."

"Don't you wish to know what information was imparted to us?" Uriel questioned and she stared coldly at him. "The third sphere, he is hiding in there. Typical, like the coward that he is. In with the souls of the mud monkeys."

"Get out," Sariel ordered, and this time Uriel vanished without further provocation. Her heart felt as if it might beat out of her chest, her rage was such that she considered going immediately to Michael and demanding answers. He could not have ordered the torture of their sister, that would have come from Uriel or one of his superiors. She filed that away for future action, drawing her attention to what was to come. Gabriel.

It is easy enough to travel around Heaven. One only needs to know where they are headed, and then have the necessary clearance to reach it. Sariel's clearance was of the highest order, and so she could access many areas lower spheres could not. She blinked, thinking of her sister Zadkiel and then felt herself lifted in that direction.

The Healing Garden was one of the greatest wonders created. Sariel's lineage felt most at home here, closest to their Creator when they walked through the countless trees, bushes and flowering garden beds of the Garden. Medicinal herbs of every kind grew here, an ethereal marker for what was found in the Earthly realms.

Sariel stopped to lean over the lavender, smelling its beautiful scent before moving on. It was the oldest herb in Heaven or on Earth, and her favourite. She picked a strand and carried it with her as she approached the healing waters.

"Sariel!" A soft voice called out to her and she hurried toward it. "You have come."

Chamuel, angel of healing and compassion was in the water, holding their sister aloft in the water. Zadkiel's long dark hair floated out through the water like tendrils of seaweed, her eyes closed serenely which told Sariel that Chamuel had placed their sister into a deep healing trance.

"I just heard what happened, how is she?" Sariel asked, kneeling by the pool of bluish green water.

"Uriel and those savages, they are getting worse. Anyone who dares to get in the way of the Legion …"

"Hush, now is not the time," Sariel cut in, cupping her palm to her ear to indicate that they were being listened in on. "How long until she wakes?"

"She will wake when she wakes," Chamuel said with a sigh.

Sariel slipped into the water beside them, her robes billowing out in the warmth that cushioned them. Without a word, she knelt beside their sister and reached a hand out to touch her forehead.

Instantly Sariel was teleported into her mind, and fell to her knees in pain. She gasped for the injuries that had been sustained during Uriel's questioning and crawled forward.

"Zadkiel!" She called out, finding the strength to stagger to her feet. "Zadkiel!"

The screams that surrounded her faded, and a fine mist crept in around her legs, tickling its way up her body until she came face to face with a hidden and scared angel. A mere glimmer of light compared to her usual radiance, Zadkiel peered tentatively out through the mist at her sister.

"Is this a trick?"

"No," Sariel replied. She raised her hand, and a symbol glowed on her palm, a sign that only the Lady's Legion knew. With a breath of relief Zadkiel waved her hand and the mist departed, leaving the slender visage of the angel's vessel with long brown ringlets falling to her waist and deep chocolate eyes staring back.

"Uriel tells me I am to go to the Third Sphere," Sariel said, raising her eyebrow. She did not believe for a moment that Zadkiel had given up her twin, her counterpart in Heaven, though Uriel clearly thought he had gotten the upper hand with their sister.

"Uriel is blinded by zealotry," Zadkiel replied, wrapping her arms around her. "If this is the way Heaven plans to move forward in the absence of our Father, then I fear I will have no part of it Sariel."

"I am sorry," Sariel said softly, reaching out to take the other's hand. "Heaven's host moves in mysterious ways of late, and I do not approve of their tactics. I will take it up with Michael when I see him next. In the meantime I need to find Gabriel, it is important."

"I do not trust Uriel with him," Zadkiel said.

"I don't plan on telling Uriel anything after what he has done to you," Sariel replied with a frown. "I will report directly to Michael. If indeed there is anything of import to tell him."

"We just wanted to be left alone, Sariel," Zadkiel said with tears in her eyes. Her eyes belied an age that her face did not reflect. She was ancient, and the years without guidance from their Creator had not helped. She was lost, and she felt it deeply in this moment of betrayal. She had been tortured for information, by her own brothers, and the universe was suddenly not safe anymore.

"He's on Earth," Zadkiel said finally, coming to a decision. "In the guise of a Trickster."

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTES**

There is some reference to future events not yet covered in Dean & Beth's journey - I have tried to keep it as spoiler free as possible, or at least allude to possibilities rather than definites in the storyline because to be honest, even I don't know where the writers are going to take Supernatural, and for the most part I am following that journey and incorporating my own side stories and OFC in Beth.

I have some very definite ideas on the angel story I want to tell, and the unfolding storyline around The Darkness does support it quite well, though like everything I write, there's always a twist ;)

Updates will be sporadic as I'm going to try and time them with the Dean and Beth timeline and when it's updated.


	2. Cycles of Destiny

**CYCLES OF DESTINY**

* * *

Gabriel had long given up hope for any reconciliation among his brothers and sisters. He had resigned himself to wandering the planet, a shadow of his former self, dealing out swift, ironic fate to the assholes of the world.

What he did know was that the passion was here on Earth, among these creations of his Father's. He had long suspected God of walking amongst them, though had not come across the creator in form in the centuries he himself had been in hiding on the planet.

His latest amusement had been to come across the Winchester family again. Dean, Beth and Sam. The last time he'd encountered them, they'd been looking into strange events that seemed to be urban legends come to life. But no, that had been all him. They thought they'd killed him, if he had been the Trickster they believed him to be, he would most certainly be dead - but alas he was not.

The last few months he'd been tormenting them, knowing full well the gossip - that the mighty Dean Winchester was headed for Hell where he would roast on a spit for all eternity. Sam and Beth weren't coping, as he suspected, and so the opportunity to mess with them a little further had not gone unaccepted.

He'd trapped the trio in a hellish version of _Groundhog Day_ , the day only ending and restarting with Dean's untimely death. Gabriel amused himself with all kinds of scenarios on a regular basis, but even he was having trouble coming up with some newer more inventive ways to kill off the older Winchester.

"Doris… I think today would be an excellent day to practise your archery, don't you think?" He suggested to the chubby little waitress from the diner where he started every Tuesday eating pancakes and maple syrup. From here he could monitor the Winchesters, gauge their level of sanity for the day, and determine Dean's cause of death before nightfall.

"Ooooh, I haven't had a chance to do that recently, thanks for the suggestion!" Doris replied with a twinkle in her eye, she nodded to herself and wandered off, mind now clearly on where she would be after her shift had finished, rather than her actual job.

Gabriel chuckled to himself, Dean was never going to see death by arrow coming.

He finished his pancakes and got up from the counter, listening in on the trio who were arguing quietly, Sam and Beth trying to convince Dean that they were in fact on the level about their multiple Tuesday experiences. Occasionally he felt a little guilty, but it didn't last very long. He liked the Winchesters, but they had also made a fool of him, and he couldn't have that.

His knowledge of what was to come for the three siblings scratched away at him. It was not time, and as an angel he needed to follow the timing of his visions to the letter. To reveal too much before the person was ready could throw everything into a tizz, and ruin the grand plan as set out by their Father.

Did his visions come from the Holy Father any longer? Where was he if they did? Why had Gabriel not received revelation in centuries? He had no answers for this, but what he did know is that for some reason he had been tapped with birthing messages for the Winchesters when the time was right, and as such he found himself rather attached to them - even as he proceeded to torment them.

He started to wander down the street of Broward, whistling a happy tune as he turned toward the candy shop with his eye set on some sweet caramel. Gabriel loved sweets. True enough, it was not a fetish as much as it might be for a Trickster, but he enjoyed indulging in the sugary overload just the same. And why not? He was an angel! It's not as if he was going to put on weight. His vessel - one Thomas R Hinkleton from the sixteenth century hadn't aged or changed in three hundred years.

There were precious few people in this world who carried the bloodline needed to house one of the Seraphim. Angels were hard enough, but it took a special line direct from Adam himself to not explode when taking on one of his kind. Finding them were hard, deliberately, because God had banished the angels from walking the Earth in vessels after they hard started mating with humans.

Those had been dark times indeed, and Gabriel didn't like to remember them. Their Father had the records erased. You could chance upon the line, if you knew enough, but getting a body to go Earth-side wasn't as easy as it sounded. Frankly it was easier for a demon to get topside than it was for an angel. As such, many of them had paid attention to the vessel lineages, or kept a body in one of the realms of Heaven, even after the soul had moved on.

Of those he knew most of them, or recognised them when he came into contact. He sauntered around a corner and found himself in a standoff with a face he'd known for half a millennium. She'd updated her overall look, but the auburn hair and striking green eyes remained the same. The last Gabriel had seen her, she'd been tied to a stake by idiot Christians who thought they were doing away with a witch. What was odd, was that they'd known enough to restrain an angel - a feat not easily done. But he had allies where she had not. Imagine their surprise when he'd spirited the witch away!

"Hello brother," Sariel said with a tiny smile. She leaned casually against the brick wall of the storefront and watched him as if she'd known he would there at any moment. "You're a hard one to track down."

"Sariel, darling, to what do I owe the pleasure!" Gabriel greeted in a jovial fashion. He was genuinely happy to see her, having always enjoyed her pragmatism and enjoyment of the simple things.

"You first, Gabriel, I have been watching you for days now, tormenting these humans. Why?" She asked and he chuckled, pushing past her and opening the door to the candy shop.

"Why not?" He asked with a shrug. "It amuses me."

"It's beneath you," she commented, following him inside and loitering beside him as started to look over the various jars filled with sugary sweets.

"Pfft!" He said dismissively, waving his hand in the air. "I'm teaching them a lesson about destiny."

"Destiny?" Sariel asked curiously.

"Yes indeed. They can't escape their fate any more than the rest of them," Gabriel replied, tapping the glass over the caramel chews. "I'll have a bag of those please," he said to the store attendant. "And some jelly beans, and some twisters… oh, and some chocolate buttons too."

"What's so important about them?" Sariel asked, looking out the window and across the street. Dean, Beth and Sam were now walking along the other side of the road, lost in conversation.

Gabriel joyfully accepted the bags of candy from the shop attendant, dropping him some cash on the counter and then hurried to look out the window with his sister.

"Ooooh, here it comes, this is my best one yet," he said pointedly. He grinned and nodded in their direction. Sam and Dean had stopped to argue, the taller of the brother waving his arms heatedly around in their air when _Whoooooooosh!_ Out of nowhere, well, truthfully, from the rooftop a few doors down from where Gabriel was standing, came an arrow. It pierced Dean in the back of the neck, and there was a startled shriek from Doris the diner waitress.

Beth spun around and watched as Dean fell to his knees in front of Sam, blood gurgling from his mouth as the younger brother grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Well," Gabriel said, winking at Sariel. "Time to go!"

He snapped his fingers and the scene vanished.

Hallucinations, visions, whatever you wanted to call them all started somewhere. A blank canvass. The story was then called forth from the artist, and projected out into reality and the people it was intended for - or sometimes unintended for. There was a reason people ended up in mental hospitals sometimes - that was creation out of control.

Gabriel was a master at weaving a world around himself, painting the picture for his victims...errrr… receptacles of his vision. He quickly went to work, reinventing the same wheel he'd been playing for months now. Dean and Beth in bed, snuggled together, and Sam in the other as he snored softly, waiting for day to break.

The radio, the final touch, he waved into existence, and with a chuckle set the station to _Asia._ The same song had been greeting Sam and Beth since this situation had begun, Gabriel's favourite part of the day was seeing them wake up and hear the first line.

 _Heat of the moment!_

He watched as Dean jumped out of bed, oblivious to his presence, and started to serenade his beloved. Beth on the other hand was struggling today, shaking her head at Sam and then she fell into a full blown panic attack. Ahhhh today was going to be a good one, maybe death by dog?

When he got to the diner, Sariel was waiting. "You can't be here!" He snapped at her, waving his hand. Instantly she was transformed into the facade of one of the regulars who were always here on a Tuesday. Gabriel wove a bit of a spell around them, drawing the attention of the Winchesters away from looking too closely at them while they continued to talk.

"You can't just run off on me, Gabriel," she chided him and he sighed, smiling at Doris as she placed his usual order in front of him.

"I have work to do here, you know, I'm a very busy man," he reprimanded, watching as she rolled her eyes at him. "Unless of course, you have something… else… you'd like to be doing…" he added salaciously, wiggling his eyebrows at her. Sariel's vessel was a stunning woman, and he'd always had a bit of a weak spot for red heads.

"You have got to be joking!" Sariel said, almost shocked.

"Baby, there's two things I never joke about… candy… and the sweet, sweeeeet indulgence of making love to another warm body. You however seem to be a tad cold for this hot blooded man," he said, turning back to his pancakes and shoveling a mouthful in. He paused, fork in the air as he savoured the soft texture of the dough in his mouth, audibly expressing his delight in the combination of cake and syrup.

"You should try it some time, get that stick out of your ass. You used to be way more fun Sariel."

"How dare you?!" Sariel snapped, and she stood up. "I have come here on an important mission from Michael, and you ...all you do is fool around and make jokes. Angels are _dying,_ Gabriel, you have a duty to your family."

"Duty?" Gabriel asked, looking around. It was almost time to make his exit. He tossed his napkin down on the plate and walked out, leaving both Sariel and Winchesters alike behind. He was getting tired of this game now. It was never fun when people tried to rain on his parade. He strode moodily down the street, spotting the golden retriever that was wandering around in the park. That would do. Old Dean wasn't going to know what hit him. Death by dog, indeed!

"You can't just walk off on me!" Sariel announced as she appeared in the park next to a tree.

Gabriel sighed. "Like I could get away if I tried!" He threw his arms up in the air and led her further into the gardens, away from the likes of Dean and Beth Winchester.

"What happened to you?" Gabriel asked as they walked, each step he could feel Sariel growing more frustrated with him.

"What are you talking about?" She asked.

"You used to have fire Sariel, you had conviction, you had something to serve and to live for," he said.

"I had a Mother too, and _you_ helped take her away from us!" Sariel yelled, her eyes flashing. Gabriel sighed, looking around at the people in the park. He waved his hand and the scene froze: better to not have people overhear this particular argument.

"I didn't have a choice, if you remember correctly. Just like you I was forced into a decision, and it wasn't an easy one."

Sariel crossed her arms and scowled at him, knowing he was right. She still held him responsible for the final blow dealt to them all, and always would.

"I chose self-preservation over a clean conscience, and I'd do it again," he said. "You remember the night so dark we couldn't see? You remember chaos and insanity running unchecked? She was going to bring that down on us and then some! Oh ho, they are right when they talk about Hell having no fury like that of a woman scorned - well Daddy dear pissed off the ultimate woman, and had to make a choice before we all suffered her wrath."

"Now you sound like Uriel," Sariel said, the accusation weighing heavily between them. Gabriel and Uriel had not agreed on the course of action and argued about it for centuries.

"I am nothing like that stuck up, two-faced, self-righteous _robot_ that does Father's dirty work. I am an artist! I see the dark and the light and I dance in the shadows, Sariel. I remember a time when you did too."

"Well I learned my lesson on that one."

"Oh please, you let Michael whip you back into shape when they found out. You were _a Goddess,_ Sariel! You kept the balance as well as our Mother ever could. Sumeria, Egypt, Greece, Rome, Israel … you were there to see it all stayed in check. Hiding in the shadows, speaking to the priestesses of old… who else could do that but you?"

"I was mistaken, it was wrong, blasphemy…"

"Blasphemy! Pfft! It was because of you that we didn't slip into these current times sooner. Cleopatra, Boudicca, Cartimandua, Penthesilea, Mary Magdalene..." He paused, looking at her. "Nefertiti too, and don't tell me one of your line wasn't there whispering in Grace O'Malley's ear when she sailed the seas - you're looking at one of her descendants right here and now!" He waved toward the edge of the park where the Winchesters were frozen in time, Dean sitting on a bench and Beth in his lap as he tried to reassure her that it was a new day and they could change their circumstances.

"Idiot women who didn't know their place. Nefertiti was one of the biggest ones of all. The dancing around with mythology of Isis and Osiris, and dying for one another, for what? Love? Humans… what do they know of love? We have witnessed it in its rawest of expressions, stood before the Creator and known that power."

"You're wrong, Sariel. God you're so cold! Do you know what happened when you were taken back to Heaven, when you stopped whispering to those women? _The damn dark ages! Witch trials!_ Men lost their minds, they threw the feminine to the hell hounds, and grew so unbalanced that to this day they haven't recovered. Don't talk about something you know nothing about, sister." Gabriel said, shaking his head sadly.

"I know that no human would sacrifice themselves for the love of another, that no one would truly walk into the bowels of Hell to rescue their lover," Sariel stated.

"He did," Gabriel said, pointing at Dean on the bench. "Sold his soul to save her spending eternity in the Pit. And she will walk into Hell itself to rescue him," Gabriel said, pointing to Beth. "Soul mates, you know. They do exist."

"Heh. You've spent too much time among mortals, Gabriel," Sariel said with a smirk. "Have you forgotten what happened to the angels who fell in love? What our Father did to Layiel, when he learned of her love for our brother?"

"I was there, I remember."

"Then you'll do well to recall that the only true love is in worship of Him," she said.

"They really did break you in Heaven, didn't they?" He asked, looking at her sadly.

"No one broke me, Gabriel, but they did open my eyes," Sariel said. "Something you would be wise to do for yourself."

"Oh I've seen enough, experienced enough," Gabriel commented. "I'm _tired_ Sariel, and I'm sick of the fighting. Michael, Samael, our Father...our Mother. How many of us continue to suffer because of outdated ideas? Because He was too proud to admit He was wrong!"

"That's blasphemy. Pride is a sin, Gabriel, or have you forgotten?"

"Not so much that I don't know he is a hypocrite," Gabriel said. "Not so much that I don't know how much of a hypocrite _you are_ in coming here."

"What are you are talking about?"

"Do you really think I'm not aware of what Uriel did to Zadkiel?" He asked, his eyes starting to brim with tears. He'd felt it, every second of the torture, felt how they tried to break her mind, and all to find him. "I will not return to Heaven, especially not after what was done to her."

"I've given my word you will not be harmed," Sariel said, crossing her arms.

"And you speak for who? Michael? I don't think so. Did he even come to you himself with this mission you speak so highly of?" Gabriel questioned. He watched her intently, hoping that he was wrong, that his brother was truly behind this.

Sariel's eyes told him the truth and he sighed.

"I thought as much," he said when she remained silent. "You are his counterpart, the yin to his yang, Sariel. Surely you of all angels should know his plans directly from him? What is he up to?"

"He's seeking the line of Cain," she said and instantly Gabriel knew why. He forced himself to remain passive, fighting the urge to glance over at the Winchesters. Ten feet away and she had no idea.

"Why?" He asked, stalling for time.

"I don't know," she said.

"I'll tell you why, Sariel," he said with a smirk, digging into his bag of candy and pulling out a jelly bean. He popped it into his mouth and munched thoughtfully as she waited for him to continue. "He plans to walk among the mortals again."

"Impossible," she said. "Michael hasn't been on Earth in millennia."

"Well I am telling you, Sariel, that is the only reason he would want to know where the lineage lies. He's seeking his vessel, the Michael sword." Gabriel said, watching as she appeared shocked.

"No!"

"You know there is only one reason for that," he commented.

"It's impossible," she said, shaking his head. "You created the lock yourself."

"I did," Gabriel nodded. "He won't break it." Gabriel was confident in the lock that held their brother in his cell. He'd thought of it himself, and he had good reason to believe that the lock holding him at bay would never be broken. To do so would damage the fallen angel beyond repair.

"But if Michael is seeking his vessel, then he must have reason to think that Lucifer will try," Sariel mused, a frown touching her otherwise unblemished face. "Heaven has been under more and more attacks of late, the Legion is sent far and wide."

"Demons, more so than ever are walking the planet," Gabriel agreed, nodding. "But! Totally not my problem!" He clapped, and everything around them began to move. Dean stood up from the bench he'd been sitting on, Sam was running back toward the pair waving a flyer at them and then the deadly, evil golden retriever (who was suffering hallucination and thought Dean was a big, juicy steak) attacked.

Gabriel found himself alone once more, his blank canvass before him, and he took a moment to contemplate what was to come. Sariel had disturbed him more than he wanted to admit with her discussions about Michael. He felt indebted to Zadkiel for not revealing his location to Uriel and his goons. There was an undercurrent of energy not sitting happily with him and he sighed. The tides were changing, and his peaceful little existence on Earth was about to shift, he could feel it in his bones.

More than anything, the green eyes of Sariel haunted him, her pleas for his assistance - well intentioned, but naive - ate at him. He resolved to finish up his lessons with the Winchesters, and send them on their way, before Sariel started to suspect their true heritage. Once she found out she would go running to Michael. No this was a card Gabriel planned to play close to his chest for a while longer.

Cain and Abel's lineage was long and intertwined, with many hidden stories to tell, but never before had there been a more truer reflection of the angelic brothers of Michael and Lucifer than currently held in Dean and Sam. Their destiny was before them, and soon everything would change.


	3. The Ties That Bind

_**Warning - This Chapter Contains Season 10 Spoilers for Supernatural**_

* * *

 **THE TIES THAT BIND**

* * *

 **Joshua Tree National Park - California**

Gabriel didn't like the desert. Too quiet. Too dark. When he stood under the moonless night and stared into the sky, he was reminded of what it was like to be Home. A home the was no longer a safe or welcome place for him. Tonight however, he found himself wandering, dragging his feet along the dusty, hard packed ground. In the dying embers of daylight, the rugged rock formations and stark desert faded from his preferred orange and pinks to deep indigo.

With a shiver that ran the length of his spine, Gabriel wrapped his arms around himself and stared into the sky. It was not the stars he saw tonight, but a memory from long ago. One he thought had been banished from his mind. Before everything had been The Void, the Empty… in it a force so primal and instinctive, it was pure energy itself.

Before the Word had come the Creator - the womb that birthed night and day, yin and yang, light and dark. Before life could exist, there had to be a seed… a spark, atoms colliding… the big bang.

Gabriel sighed, looking down at the red sands beneath him. He had told this story over and over to people, but they didn't listen. The closest were Eastern philosophers, Buddhists and Taoists with more open minds. " _Where should the seed take root? None other than The Eternal Darkness - she who is all…and from here, came all that we know..."_ The words were like a litany to the angel now. For tonight however, he had no audience.

If he was being honest with himself - and Gabriel admitted he didn't often do that - he knew exactly why he was wandering the desert, alone, as the world turned dark and cold. Sariel had affected him more than he liked. He had tried to put her out of his mind, jumping back into his Trickster life, but there was no joy in it. Her words, that Michael was looking for the Michael Sword, echoed in his mind.

Long had it been since Gabriel had involved himself in the dramas of Heaven. He preferred to stay to the outer realms, on Earth as much as possible, keeping his own guise neatly wrapped around him so much so that even his own siblings, when they crossed paths with him, did not recognise him. No, Gabriel enjoyed his anonymous existence, far from death and pain, he had grown fond of his Father's mud monkeys - more than any angel - and resolved that this was how he would see out the end of days.

He was not made for this life, yet he had made it his own.

Gabriel climbed up a small, pebbled path, the loose rocks and dirt causing his steps to be slippery and uncoordinated. It was true, he could teleport himself to the top of the rise, sit out on the flat boulder that overlooked the valley, and not get this ridiculous red earth all over his favourite red, hi-top converse shoes. _They were already red for the love of all that is physical and real._ He stopped, wondering at himself.

 _Why was he struggling up this slope?_

With a troubled mind, he admitted that he was punishing himself for pushing Sariel away. She had not come to him for help before, and yet here she was - the Goddess's most proud: running errands. With a frustrated roar, he teleported himself up to his destination, seeing the shadows of night fall across the scenery before him.

Lost.

He hadn't felt lost for at least the last few hundred years. It troubled him more than he wanted to admit (which was not at all) that Sariel had him worried. And Gabriel might be a great deal many things, but it was never that.

Lying back against the hard rock, he stared up at the milky way, sparkling like a river of diamonds against the great black expanse, and started to speak the words he had passed on countless times before.

" _In the beginning was the Darkness - we call it the darkness, but that is only because the human mind cannot comprehend the true form of pure Chaos… waterfalls crashing and driving earth into the sea; sinking sands in the desert pushing crystals to the surface; the crushing death of earth and fire spewed forth from the deepest bowels of the Earth… none of these come close. To say we came from Darkness is like saying a fish is birthed from the fishbowl, when it is tossed into the ocean. No, the son and daughter of Chaos, THEY were the light and the darkness - the yang and the yin._

" _God and Goddess - Yahweh and Asherah, for those are their names to mortal ears. They, our divine benefactors, created all that you see - from the sea to the shore, above, below and beyond. But the Void, the Great Darkness… like a black hole, sucked up everything in its path, wreaked havoc with the new creations of our Divine Couple. So Yahweh and Asherah set about a plan to betray their creator, and lock it inside the Empty - the place of Nothing from whence it had come. They were not powerful enough to do this alone - so they created seven Angels each - two sides to one coin. Together these fourteen angels shone the light of their grace into the Dark, and somewhere in the Void… the Darkness pushed back..."_

It had been so cold. So many had fallen against the black cloud of pure, raw energy, pulling in angels and throwing out … something else. They had turned on each other, tormented by the shadow, and after a time, there was only one solution. The Archangels had to stand against her, alone.

Gabriel raised his hands to look at them. He remembered that night as if it were yesterday. Fourteen of them, all united by the grace that made them angels. Their powers connected, like a giant Care Bear rainbow. He chuckled at the image, it was one of his favourite cartoons: someone had gotten that one right, for on a grander scale that is exactly what had happened.

Even as they had fought, exhausted by the strength of the Great Creator… they had not feared for their lives. They had no emotion, they lived only to serve and obey, to push back the Darkness, and imprison her. But it was so cold. The icy tentacles of the dark hole in front of them had reached for them. Gabriel, on the very end of the line, and Zadkiel, his counterpart on the other side, had felt it first.

They had wavered.

" _Hold the line!" Michael had yelled from the centre._

From the hearts of the gathered angels shot blinding white-blue light, like nothing anyone had ever seen before - and likely would never see again. And then Samael and Layiel, the light-bringers, had stepped forward.

" _No!" Michael had called out. "You must hold the line."_

" _Trust us, brother!" Samael had replied._

He and Layiel had joined hands, their light growing to expand beyond the single beam of pure grace that was doing nothing more than holding the Darkness at bay.

Together, the two moved toward the Void, and when their wings touched the edge of The Empty, a white, blinding bubble had erupted, encircling the Darkness - trapping her. A cry of victory went up from the warriors as the sight renewed their efforts. Michael and Sariel led the charge forward, they had all moved, reuniting with Samael and Layiel, and then the job was done.

The doorway into the Void was slammed shut. Samael, his hand against it as he held for the seal. The final key to keep Chaos locked away forever.

" _Well done my children," Yahweh had said, beaming at them with pride._

Samael knelt before their Father, panting with the effort of holding the door, his wings stretched out behind him long and white.

" _You have proven yourself strongest, my son,"_ Yahweh had said.

" _I did not do it alone," Samael replied._

" _Yet alone you hold the door."_ With that statement, Yahweh reached out, searing the angel's forearm with a red, angry looking mark. " _You shall bear the key, my son,"_ he said with a nod. " _So that all others may live."_

Samael had fallen, screaming in pain, to his knees as red electric light had rippled across his skin. Gabriel had run to his brother's side, seeing him writhe in agony.

" _What have you done?"_ Asherah had asked, a ripple of unhappiness coursing through the Goddess. To Gabriel it felt like a soft spring rain on a sunny day.

" _What I had to."_

Gabriel had never forgotten how expendable they were. It was the first, and last, time all his siblings would work together as one, after that they had become but shells of their true divine selves.

* * *

 **2nd Realm of Heaven - The First Sphere**

Time flows differently in Heaven, all the Spheres affected in their own way. To a mere human soul it remained much the same, though in a loop, for a human's afterlife in Heaven is a simple construct of one's most treasured memories - repeated forever. The third sphere, where all this happened, kept time as it did on Earth, and the lower you went in the Spheres, the more it sped up and was measured through the rotation of planets around stars, and the turning of seasons.

In the higher spheres, which were closer to the true essence of their Father, a human soul would experience time at an almost standstill. It was perfect order, all things remaining constant and locked in time. However, this was not a realm for human souls. Even to the other angels, this was a place of peace, quiet and communion with their Father, they could lie here for an age on Earth, and it would feel as if mere hours to them. The Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones were the only ones who could traverse it's landscapes without feeling the effects.

Sariel had started her existence in the highest of the Spheres, that of the Seraphim and there she had witnessed a great many ages come and go. She had been the closest to her Mother, born first of her light, and alongside her Michael had been the first of all God's angels.

It was in the realm of the Cherubim, that Sariel now entered. When in doubt, she came here to commune with the others. Time stood still on this level, that of the first sphere, it was where those angels of the highest order lay in worship and reverence to their Father, the light-bringer, and held the energy of Heaven while they waited for him to return.

The Angels all lived to serve their Father now. It had not always been so. Sariel recalled better times, after the Darkness had been sealed away, where they worked in concert with their Father and Mother, to create new worlds, to birth galaxies and stars, planets and all the life upon them.

Then one day, their Father had decided to create something in secret. His _master project_ as he called it when it was finally revealed. She'd once heard Gabriel telling the story to a crowd in Shanghai: long before it was known as that of course.

" _On the first day He created what we came to know as Night and Day. On the second day He parted the waters and brought forth firmament - creating land and sea. On the third day, He called forth the grass… and the Great Tree which would form the basis for Heaven and Hell - but that is a story for later. On the FOURTH day, He placed his favourite constellations in the sky, and warmed his creation with the Sun in His image - and placed the Moon in the sky to remind those of His love, Asherah. On the fifth day, He played and brought forth sea creatures and birds - and on the Sixth Day… well on the Sixth day it all kind of fell apart."_

Asherah had not taken kindly to this new creation of which she had no hand, but she had tolerated it for a time after Yahweh had begged Her forgiveness, and said they could continue to build the world together. And that is exactly what they had done. Asherah had birthed her own people from the different soils of Earth, but Adam… he had always been Yahweh's favourite, the one created without any touch of the Goddess. It was at Adam's bidding that Yahweh committed great atrocity to one of Asherah's angels, ripping out her grace and making her human. A companion for Adam. Gabriel had been right - it all fell apart from there.

When Asherah learned of what had happened she had waged a war against Yahweh, the Lady's Legion stirred to arms against him as she hit back at his most beloved planet. She did the unthinkable… she tried to kill the dawn star, the bearer of the key - to release the Darkness once more.

All had to choose a side - light or dark, and Michael was summoned from the First Sphere of Heaven to imprison Asherah.

After their Mother had been banished, Sariel had sought to keep the people connected to the truth, spreading her knowledge to humanity through the temple priestesses and the village herbal ladies. She knew now that she had been misguided, lost without connection to her creator, so Michael had brought her here to show her the true ways of Heaven. Here, emotions did not rule, it was logic, connection to their source; there were no questions, no doubts, only peace. Here angels entered into a formless union, a collective that a human mind could not comprehend.

Long had the Cherubim gone unguided, as unlike the other forces of existence - such as Death - the angelic forces were not a vacuum that needed to be filled in an absence. Once dead, they entered into The Empty, where they were at rest for all time. Those who fell were destined to reside in Hell for all eternity.

Six fiery wings propelled her forward, free of the confines of her mortal vessel. She could not enter the first sphere in physical form. Sariel moved through the blinding light of the Cherubim present, her wings expanding and burning so hot that they became a fierce, white flame. Sinking into the energy of the gathered angels, she became one with them. This was the moment of release, surrender, that she craved.

No thought.

No fear.

No doubt.

No pain.

Only one with all that is. One with the divine essence of being. Sariel drifted on soft strains of angels singing - their melodies so haunting and beautiful that if heard by humans, they cried tears of blood and then lost their minds.

No humans.

No Earth.

No Gabriel.

With a start, Sariel felt herself lifted out of the collective for a mere second, a lifetime on earth, and felt his absence.

 _Gabriel. Gabriel. Gabriel…._

The voices of the collective around her had read the thought as quickly as it had entered her mind, and taken up the song of the archangel.

 _Gabriel…. He who is great…._

 _Gabriel…. The voice of our Father..._

All around her she heard his name whispered, carried from one to the next. Sariel pulled herself back from the union and placed a guard around her thoughts. But it was too late, the damage was done. If one of Uriel's angels happened to be in this level, they would know ... they would suspect she had seen him.

" _Sariel_ ," a familiar voice carried to her from the watery doorway leading into the 7th level. "Sariel come forth… do not lose yourself in the collective…"

She struggled. Oh how she wanted to stay here, let it all go. _Wasn't this what Michael wanted?_ The question was barely in her mind before the collective took up the new call, a ripple of curiosity cresting over the gathered.

 _Michael… Michael… Michael… the golden son…_

 _Michael… he who is great…_

Their voices joined together in song and melody, singing the praises of Heaven's most powerful angel. The joyful strains were like prayers, lifted higher, to the Endless, out into the rest of the Universe where God was present and listening.

"Bring us Gabriel," Uriel's voice echoed in Sariel's mind. She found her heart being pulled on, as if tethered to a shoreline she did not recognise.

"Sariel!"

 _Sariel… Sariel… Sariel… she who shines brightest…._

 _Sariel… leader of the Lady's legion…_

 _Sariel… keeper of Her wisdom…_

"No!" Sariel forced herself out. She separated, rising above the light of the Cherubim, looking down on them from six, red hot and fiery wings that burned now with a passion of anger.

"I am nothing!" She shouted back at them. But her words echoed through the formless level and were not taken up by the collective.

" _I am nothing…"_ she whispered again.

* * *

 **Joshua Tree National Park - California**

 _This won't do at all!_ Gabriel thought, sitting up. Here he was, wallowing in what? The spectres of the past? It was long gone, the world a different place now. Earth turned and seasons changed. Heaven - well, it stayed much the same as it always did, he supposed, but he didn't truly know because he hadn't been back in almost fifteen centuries.

 _What if I just take a peek?_

The thought faded as quickly as it came. Why? What would be the purpose of returning now, when they were searching for him? It would be like handing the hunter a gun and helping him pull the trigger.

Gabriel would not get involved, he resolved. This was a war that no one would win. Final Revelation? Nobody won in that scenario. Not, Heaven, not Hell, certainly not the people living on Earth. No, Gabriel was not going to give Michael the weapon to wipe out the planet.

Not that there was a war at this time, but why should he help them prepare for one? He stared out into the deep indigos of the night, and wondered about Sariel.

 _What was she doing? Why was she helping Michael? She had witnessed what it meant to be_ chosen _for Father's purpose. She knew that serving him to the best of their abilities led only to heartache and ruin._

Samael had learned the hard way. Even Heaven's golden boy was expendable.

Gabriel ached for the days of old, where he had been young, new in the world. How they had laughed and enjoyed each other's company. Long before the humans came.

The scriptures were wrong when they spoke of angels differing to man because they had no free will. Angels had free will, Yahweh just didn't like them to know it. They were conditioned to thinking that they had no choice - but that was not the same as being an automaton.

If anyone was living proof than at angel had free will, it was Gabriel!

So why was he suddenly afraid?

What was brewing in Heaven that made him feel out of control?

' _Gabriel…'_

In the forefront of his mind, Gabriel felt the touch of his twin, the feminine aspect of himself created by Asherah.

' _Zadkiel, I am here.'_ He sent back to her telepathically.

' _Gabriel, I am dying…'_

She didn't have to say it, he could feel it in his very bones. As long as their connection was open, he felt what she felt, she knew what he knew.

' _I'm coming.'_

He broke the connection before she could protest. Knew she thought it was a trap, but he was smarter than that. Long before his sister Jophiel had been locked away, imprisoned for trying to help Samael save Layiel from the Garden and Adam, she had shown Gabriel the doorways. Jophiel could open portals to anywhere she wanted to go, a gift that had not been given to all angels.

Gabriel did not have the ability to create new doorways, but he could access those that had gone before him. As such, he had an ace, a backdoor into Heaven. Not even Uriel would see him coming.

Standing on the rock beneath his feet, Gabriel pulled himself up to full height and prepared to teleport to the nearest doorway. It was going to be a wet and wild ride, that was for sure. He was rather looking forward to it! With a deep breath, he closed his eyes and visualised his destination. First… the surf shop, and then...

Wet rapids, white foam and cold spray…. He was moving at a hundred miles a minute, whooping at the top of his voice.

"Woooooohooooo!" Gabriel called out, his hands thrown up in the air as he precariously balanced atop his acquired surfboard, his feet spread apart so that he wouldn't fall. Gabriel had impeccable balance, he knew he could pull this off with his eyes closed, but the thrill was still there as he rushed around rocks that jutted out of the surface, and then sunk into the eddies of swirling water.

People were starting to see him, tourists lined the walkways with their cameras out, gesturing animatedly as he continued on his insane - and for all intents and purposes what appeared to be quite suicidal - pilgrimage toward the edge of the waterfall. It was coming up, he could see the far horizon beyond the drop, spread out for all to see.

Gabriel raised his hands in the air, making the peace sign, as he let out one final whoop and then went flying over the edge into infinity. It would be talked about for days, the crazy leap into oblivion. Gabriel knew he had more than enough time to enter Heaven, do what he needed, and then return through the gate, hidden at the bottom of the plunge, in time to resurface a hero!

As soon as he hit the icy water, he took a breath, sinking lower and lower until he saw the tell tale shimmer of silver light, along the bottom of the river. He kicked, propelled more by his own energy than his legs, and within a second he was through to the other side and riding a different kind of wave.

He did not shout this time, for this close to Heaven it would be heard and noticed. Most travelled the Great Tree, and the ley lines that led to the other levels of Heaven. It was easier than taking the portals because, unless you knew where these doorways were, you needed a threshold angel to lead the way. Gabriel knew all the open doors however, thanks to Jophiel, and he smiled to himself as he slid through the etheric field and into the Fourth Level of Heaven. There was something to be said for making friends.

With the simple closing of his eyes and will of his mind, Gabriel's clothes changed from wet to dry - simple and practical for his mission. White baggy pants and a similar shirt, he felt like he was off to a meditation class in the middle of the Mojave Desert! But these were the sorts of things angels in the Healing Garden wore, so he wanted to blend in.

His vessel was holding up fine in the fourth level, any higher and it might start to show some wear, but he was still close enough to the physical realms to keep it. Gabriel didn't like abandoning his Vessel, he felt doing so made him vulnerable. In truth he was more powerful outside of it, but a Vessel afforded him the anonymity that he wanted.

The Garden was as beautiful as ever. Here, every tree, every flower, every plant that had ever existed thrived in abundance. His favourite was the tropicals, and he knew that was where he would find Zadkiel. Millennia ago, before Earth when the Universe was still new, they had walked a tropical paradise on another world, and many of the plants from there had become prototypes for their Father when he created this Earth.

All were in the Garden.

Gabriel had no idea if that world even existed anymore. They had delved into it like children, running through the warm waters, ducking under huge palm fronds, and the drinking nectar from the pink fluted flowers. But he knew it was here. No sooner had he visualised the very flower, he was standing beside it. With a smile, he inhaled deeply of its sweet, rich scent - like honey and jasmine mixed together- and then picked it from the bush: another flower grew immediately to replace it. Gabriel turned, his gift in hand, seeking the healing pond. He could feel her there, floating among the lotuses and the wild papyrus, her hair spread out in a crown around her head.

* * *

 **2nd Realm of Heaven - First Sphere**

"Sariel."

Turning, free now of the hazy thoughts of no-thought, no-form, Sariel could see the amber eyes of her sister Remiel.

"Why are you here?" She asked plainly, looking back on the Cherubim below.

"You cannot lose yourself to the collective this time, Sariel, you are needed," Remiel replied, not truly answering the question - a habit of angels and humans alike.

Sariel paused and silently observed the angel who glowed golden. Everything about her was lit up with a soft, gold tinge. As Remiel turned, waving a hand to gesture for Sariel to follow, streaks of light flashed through the air.

Her robes, light and billowing were reflections of creams, silver and gold, glittering yet also dull. It was an appearance that only an angel could create. Her royal energy of seeking daily revelation had pulled her closer to the Sun, the golden sphere of their Father, than any other. Over time her celestial connection to the moon had waned.

Sariel frowned, but followed her sister to a rainbow that curled around the trunk of the Great Tree of Life.

"Come," Remiel said. "We must speak privately."

With those five words, Remiel dived into the rainbow, two massive golden wings spreading out behind her. She twisted, and wove, until she seemed to collide with the wide unyielding trunk of the tree, disappearing in an array of golden fireworks, joining the leylines that ran the length of the tree.

Sariel had once gotten a rush from riding the ley lines, but she was too curious about Remiel's secret rendezvous that she didn't have time to enjoy it. She followed after her sister, taking the same path across the rainbow until she too was inside, riding the waves of life and light, her six wings straight behind her, free falling through the spheres of Heaven. Without knowing where they were going to exit, Sariel had to pay closer attention to Remiel's movements, breathtaking in their grandeur until finally, without warning, Remiel left the pure white stream of the tree, and Sariel dove to follow her through the same portal.

Like being thrown from a rushing river on to a still island, Sariel gasped for breath, bringing her wings around her face, legs and torso. They cradled her, a comfort, as she found herself in the Garden, and almost in pain as the forces of being so close to the physical realms crushed in around her.

The amber necklace around her throat glowed fiery red, and she coughed, struggling to touch it. Finally, with a single spoken word in Enochian… "Nadea," _Sword,_ she felt the restriction recede, and the form of her vessel come forth, to which she entered. Taking a deep breath, she sighed, looking down at the hands in front of her again, running them through her long, thick curls.

"The Fourth realm," Sariel commented, looking around her. "Why am I here, Remiel?"

'Here' was where the tree of life had first been seeded. It's roots extended far beneath them to the heavenly realms of the afterlife, all the way to take physical form in the once revered, now forgotten, Garden of Eden.

"Our sister is seeking Revelation," Remiel replied. This answer displeased Sariel for she was not the keeper of the revelations nor did she care if someone was seeking one. Remiel's hand lifted to the base of the great tree, and where the roots sunk into the earth sat her sister Raziel. Her eyes were closed in prayer, she sat in the lotus position, resting comfortably. It was a strange sight to behold given that the position was so peaceful, yet Raziel was wearing her silver armour of Legion commander.

"And what is that to do with me?"

"War, sister," a voice came from behind. "As leader of the Lady's Legion, it has everything to do with you."

Sariel spun around, her heart thundering at the second voicing of that name in such a short time.

"I am the leader of no one," she replied, her eyes narrowing as she spotted a fourth angel standing behind her. She quickly hid the surprise that he'd been able to sneak up on her, and prepared to pull her blade should something be amiss.

"Lies do not become you," said the angel, circling her. The physical form was male, but the energy inside - the essence of their creator, was still feminine. Sariel felt herself drawn into the bright blue eyes of her sister-line.

"Azakiel," she said softly, her heart softening slightly.

"I prefer Ezekiel," he replied, tilting his head to the side.

"Our Mother gave you the name of the blessed one, why won't you use it?" Sariel asked, feeling herself troubled by the very thought. Her siblings had gone through much in the time since their Asherah had been banished. Many lost their way as their purpose for being was reassigned, or destroyed.

"You know why," he said, a fire flashing behind his eyes. "I will not claim that name while She still slumbers. But fear not, sister, for Her return will be sooner than you think."

"Blasphemy," Sariel uttered.

The very air around them seemed to crackle with tension, picking up on the unspoken words that flowed between the three angels. All were of the same lineage, all created by the banished Mother. Some were able to put this aside more than others, Sariel falling into the former group, though it had no always been so.

" _She_ speaks," Ezekiel said, looking at Sariel with a stare.

"You lie."

"Is that what we have fallen to now?" He asked, looking at Sariel with a deep sadness.

"He speaks the truth," Raziel cut in, her form coming to wistfully stand beside the dark haired man, looking out at the others. She had the lightly darkened skin of the Huns, her eyes dark with wonder, and straight chocolate brown hair that hung evenly to just below her shoulders.

Raziel nodded to both Ezekiel and Remiel, acknowledging them both.

More restricted by what she could do with her energy, Remiel still managed to look striking, her vessel tall - skin a golden brown that seemed to glitter from underneath. Her long waves of flaxen coloured hair were just another shade of gold, muted to be sure, but the theme stayed true.

Sariel had never liked being backed into a corner. She was a warrior, created from the pure creative power of the Darkness itself. She had been created with one purpose, and one only… to drive the Darkness back. After that, she had been delegated to the first sphere, and the highest level of Heaven, to worship and adore her creators for eternity. She had no needs, no desires… there was nothing beyond her purpose.

"The Lady's Legion is being called, Sariel," Ezekiel said. "Remiel is not the only one who has heard it. Why do you think Michael is scuttling to find his lost lineage? He seeks his vessel, so he may walk among mortals again."

* * *

 **The Third Sphere - Fourth Realm of Heaven**

For centuries after he left Heaven, Gabriel had felt Zadkiel's every move, and she his. They were connected at the heart, and what happened to one, happened to the other. But over time he had learned how to cut himself off from her; telling himself he was doing her a favour, that she was better off not knowing where he was, or what he was doing. He had missed her presence, but after a while he started to enjoy the aloneness.

By the time he was standing with her in the pond, she had opened her eyes. She didn't move to embrace him, instead reaching a weak hand up to clasp at his.

"Remember this?" Gabriel asked, his worried eyes taking in the energy signature of her cells. She was fading, and fast. He held aloft the pink tubular flower and smiled.

"How could I forget…" she whispered… "you got drunk on the nectar."

"I seem to recall I wasn't the only one." He chuckled, tears springing into his eyes. "And you carried me until we found solid ground to pass out on."

"Good times," she smiled. "I've missed you Gabe."

"Me too," he whispered, leaning in to kiss her forehead. "I'm here now, I can fix this."

Zadkiel's smile faded and she shook her head softly. "I don't know if you can," she said, and for the first time he heard fear in her voice.

"Of course I can…I'll just give you some of my…" he had been going to say grace - the life force of an angel. His was perfectly aligned to Zadkiel's, unlike any other angel, and that meant he could give her some of his to heal her.

"I'm tainted," she cut him off. "It won't work."

"Tainted?" He asked, frowning. That word hadn't been used in millennia, not since the Fall. "How?"

"Uriel…" In an instant he saw a rush of images flow through his mind. Uriel, his sidekicks, the torture, the pain. Zadkiel fighting, refusing to reveal his location. Then a needle, a vial of blood attached. " _Don't make me do this Zadkiel…"_ Uriel said. But he had.

"I'll kill him!" Gabriel snapped, feeling her grip his hand a little firmer.

"If our Father… could be found..." her suggestion made Gabriel see red, and he shook his head furiously, like a stubborn child.

"He is missing, Zad. You know that. I haven't seen him in almost two thousand years." He sank into the water, his arms moving underneath her, and pulled the angel close into his chest. She sighed, moving to curl around him, her head resting on his shoulder as he rocked her softly, contemplating their options.

"If Mother were here…"

"Don't say that, never say that!" Gabriel said, frowning. "It's blasphemy to even say her name in Heaven."

"But it's true…"

Gabriel knew it was. His active mind was flipping through the options, weighing the pros and cons. Who could he trust? Who would he have to kill?

"I'll find a way," he said, pressing his lips to her head. "I won't let you die."

It was ironic, he thought, how just a short while ago he'd been torturing the Winchesters with a Groundhog's day version of death, watching Dean die over and over again.

With a stab to the heart he realised just what he'd been putting Sam and Beth through. Did he feel guilty? No. But there might have been a sliver of compassion melting in the angel's heart.

"Sariel."

"Is working for Michael," Gabriel said, a scowl coming across his face.

"No, she can be trusted," Zadkiel said, clutching at him. "She will do what is right."

"She will do what she has always done, turn and hide from her true destiny in order to keep herself safe," Gabriel argued. "You were there, you saw her turn on your mother."

"She was only doing what she had… to … to protect us," Zadkiel said. "It was a war she wasn't going to win, Gabe."

Gabriel didn't disagree there. He had seen a lot of good angels die that day, for both sides, just as he had the day they imprisoned the Darkness. Gabriel himself had sealed the cage while Sariel sobbed just yards away.

"Talk to her…"

"I will," he promised, looking up at the trees overhead and closing his eyes. _Oh, I'm going to talk to her all right… I'm going to kick her ass until she tells me how we fix this._ He shielded his final thoughts from the angel in his arms, feeling her drift off, the pain for a moment waning. It wasn't a full sleep, he knew, for angels didn't sleep, but they did dream, and they did enter into prayer.

As he tuned back into Zadkiel's thoughts, he was surprised to hear a litany to their mother. In Heaven! But he supposed there wasn't much more that could be done to her, than Uriel had already done. Gabriel's resolve grew firm, and his eyes narrowed as he contemplated what he had learned today. So his brother was using demon blood to torture angels…

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

This chapter is set Mid-Season 3. I'm going to be trying to catch this story up to where the Dean and Beth storyline is currently sitting in the next few weeks/months.

There's a lot of ideas I have for the Angel storyline that are NOT canon, and will run alongside, in the background, of Dean and Beth's story. I'm hoping it will continue to be a nice complement.

A lot of what I'm writing is laying foundation for where I'm wanting to take Dean and Beth in Season 10-11. It's not a _complete_ change, but there will be some major differences in the story. And I'm kind of liking where Season 13 is now going, and think it's going to fit in well with the story I'm building.

Naturally, things might change, and it's actually harder to write this without knowing exactly where the writers are taking Canon SPN, but that is part of the challenge and I think I'm up for it!

I hope you enjoyed this update, and hope to have another one out soon!

Please leave me a review, I always love to hear from readers.


	4. Cat and Mouse

**The Fourth Level of Heaven - Third Sphere**

Sariel hesitated at the accusation that she was seeking Gabriel to find the Michael Sword; uncertainty started to eat at her, like a flesh eating bacteria that would come to no good. She narrowed her piercing green eyes to the others and pulled back her shoulders.

"What do you know of Michael's orders?"

"We're not _blind_ Sariel, it is our mission to know what is going on with the legions," he replied.

"Our _Father's_ legions, Ezekiel. Not hers, not anything else but for _his purpose,"_ Sariel argued, knowing that it would fall on deaf ears. Ezekiel sighed, running a hand through his short, spiked black hair and turned to Raziel.

"I told you, she will not listen. Michael has had her too long."

Sariel frowned at the thought. It was true, she had been gone from their Mother's angels for too long. But they were all one, big family now. No separation. No need to work for either the masculine or the feminine - there was only the One, and he commanded complete devotion.

"You are all treading a dangerous path here," Sariel warned. She feared deeply for her siblings and where they might find themselves.

No one had forgotten the punishment set upon both Samael for his disobedience. It was still burned into Sariel's eyes as if it had happened yesterday. And Jophiel's punishment for trying to help their sister had been just as swift and cruel. She sat, imprisoned, in the same place she had been for millennia, cast aside and forgotten by most angels - but not by Sariel. She saw the unbalanced way Uriel moved through the Heavens. She knew that he was touched by that the same yearning for his counterpart, and unable to reach her.

No, these actions had to stop now, or there would be a world of consequences to be reaped.

"If you start down this path, you will land in a place even I cannot save you from," Sariel continued, looking at them both.

"I have no choice," Ezekiel said. "I am being called, and I will _not_ abandon our Mother this time!"

His eyes blazed a sharp, vibrant blue and Remiel reached out to pat his arm, the gesture comforting him somewhat.

"Sariel, I am a Throne. I sit in Revelation for the majority of my days. I am telling you, I _hear_ her, she is awake," Remiel's words rung long and hard in the still air, their effects running deeper than Sariel let on.

She felt a touch of doubt, coupled with the events from the last few months, and knew it would be her undoing. "How is this possible?" She asked, her eyes starting to water, as she looked from one to the other of the angels in front of her. "She was banished… we haven't… we haven't heard her voice in millennia."

 **The Third Sphere - Fourth Realm of Heaven**

Gabriel watched his twin enter the healing trance, but he knew it wasn't going to be enough. They had to know this, why hadn't they summoned him? What hadn't Sariel mentioned how bad Zadkiel was when he'd encountered her.

The answer that she hadn't cared enough to tell him, troubled him more than the reason that she hadn't actually known. He reasoned through this, and told himself it had to be the latter. If Sariel was guilty of anything, it was of being distant, and cut off from her sisters - Michael had seen to that.

How long had Sariel lay in the First Sphere? How long had she been communing with Seraphim and a missing father, waiting for guidance that was never coming? Gabriel resolved that it was time this fiery leader of their legion, disbanded or not, had a reality check.

She would be here, he knew. Somewhere in Heaven, he hoped it was not the upper spheres, because he was not about to abandon his Vessel and announce his presence to the entire Host. If he knew Sariel (and he prided himself on knowing all his siblings quite well) she would be on this very level, if not on the 2nd.

Gabriel was a master of communication. If someone was loitering he could find them. He closed his eyes, and settled into the very centre of himself. All at once the voices of thousands of angels pressed in on him. It was a double edged sword he was walking - if anyone sensed him, recognised his thoughts and identified him, they could track him. But Gabriel was smarter than that.

One by one he filtered out the voices, like tuning a radio, until there was….

 _Nothing?_

Impossible. Sariel would never return to Earth without reason. She had to be here. Incensed, Gabriel started to seek out the hidden pockets in Heaven, small sections where one couldn't be eavesdropped upon. There weren't many, but they did exist. Most of them popped like a bubble when he pressed against them with his will, but there was one… right in this Realm… that he could not penetrate!

Allowing Zadkiel to slip back into the pond, he glanced down at her as she lay resting in the still waters.

"I will return," he whispered, and then he projected himself forward, visualising the pocket of the Garden where the Great Tree stood. There was something about being so close to the ley lines that afforded the individual some privacy, perhaps it was because it was so hard to distinguish between the voices of angels and the rush of the energy slips that could take you to and from this Realm.

As he walked closer, Gabriel's attire changed. He was back in his favourite red converse, summoning up the same clothes he had been wearing at the desert. They didn't afford him a lot of cover for sneaking up, but he didn't need camouflage to do that. No - in Heaven, it helped, but if an angel sensed your presence, no amount of facepaint and khaki was going to save his ass from discovery.

Wrapped in a bubble of his own making, Gabriel allowed himself to blend into the scenery around him. It was made easier by the long green grass that ran the length of the valley before them, as far as the eye could see. He belly crawled through it until he was off to the side of the quiet zone, and found himself wide eyed at what he was seeing and hearing.

 **4th Level of Heaven - 3rd Sphere**

"Something has changed," Raziel said. "And we're not the only ones who are aware of it."

"What do you mean?"

"You think you're the only one being summoned by Uriel for strange missions? I see them leaving, some are not coming back," Raziel said. "I have sought further clarity from Uriel, to understand his actions and why our legions are being called forth when there _is no war._ But he denies me satisfaction."

"He is _lying to us,"_ Ezekiel cut in, a little faster to anger than his commanding angel.

"He is hiding something," Remiel countered. "It is not the same."

"We all heard what he did to Zadkiel…"

Sariel sucked in a short breath, one that did not go unnoticed by Raziel.

Gabriel's blood boiled at the mention of his twin's name. They knew. _They knew!_ And yet they stood around and did nothing! Once again Gabriel felt the stab of betrayal, the reason he had left in the first place. He fought not to jump out and accuse them all in that moment. Instead, driven by centuries of knowing how to bide his time, he waited, and watched.

"Then it is true," Raziel asked, noting the way Sariel's eyes flicked to the background behind them, trying not to reveal her mission or what was happening in the Healing Garden.

"You know it is," Ezekiel said. "Why hide it from us Sariel? Unless you're working with them on something."

Sariel's eyes flashed angrily at him, unhappy at the accusation. "I am nothing but my Lord's servant," she said. It was almost as if the weather changed with her mood, a dark cloud forming in the skies above. She glanced up, seeing it swirling and sighed, letting the emotion pass. She had been to Earth but for a few hours, and already it was eating at her like a poison.

"Emotion," Raziel said. "Interesting. Tell me sister, where did Zadkiel send you to find Gabriel?"

"You haven't been gone so long that you've forgotten what it's like to walk on Earth" Ezekiel asked. "What it means to feel."

"Is that where Gabriel is? Earth?" Raziel asked quickly. Gabriel chuckled to himself… _if only they knew._ He considered conjuring up a goat, just like he had so many years ago and messed with Samael for fun. _What about a whole herd of goats_? He pondered, _that would really get them going!_

But, Gabriel knew that now was not the time for games if he wanted information. Now that he knew he could traverse Heaven with no one the wiser, there would be time enough for that later. No, for now, he had far more important things to consider.

"Emotion is weakness. Feelings lead to doubt. Doubt is blasphemy," Sariel's stilted voice carried to Gabriel, and he rolled his eyes, pulling a piece of candy out of his pocket and unwrapping it. He popped it into his mouth and contemplated. _So Sariel is feeling again._ That was interesting.

"Sariel," Remiel's voice was soft, almost unheard over the other two. "We are only trying to follow the guidance we are receiving."

"There are rumours," Ezekiel said, his voice softening to match that of Remiel, as if he was directly influenced just from standing within close proximity to her. "They say that Heaven is seeking the Michael sword. To do that he needs Gabriel, to find the lost lineage of Cain. You know why he would be looking, Sariel, we all do."

"Someone plans to open Lucifer's cage," Raziel stated plainly. "Already there is talk about where the seals lie. Which ones would be easy to topple."

"It doesn't matter," Sariel responded. "The first seal must be broken in Hell itself, by a righteous man, how do you envisage that _ever_ occurring?" She was certain in this, as sure as she was that their Father was watching over all the events unfolding, biding his return, and judging all of his children by their actions.

"Hell breaks everyone, eventually," Ezekiel replied softly.

"They have to get such a man first," Sariel said.

 **The Fourth Realm of Heaven - Third Sphere**

Gabriel had heard enough and was growing bored. There was nothing to learn here.

He did not care what manner of plots and dramas that Heaven was getting itself caught up in - they weren't his battles. He had made that loud and clear thousands of years ago. He was done.

He pushed himself backwards with his arms and then froze.

A couple of stones slid out from under his hands and toppled down the embankment toward the other angels. They all swung around, searching the ledge for intruders.

"Who goes there?" Ezekiel called out, and there was a glint of silver as his sword slid from his armour.

In the blind of an eye Gabriel summoned the very herd of goats he'd been contemplating earlier. With a grin, he smacked one on the ass and sent them all running toward the ledge. Just like goats, they found their footing, and leaped down the steep embankment knocking stones and clumps of dirt as they went. Gabriel felt himself changed in appearance, taking on the four hooves and the furry exterior of the animals who were moving down hill.

Ezekiel tensed, but then relaxed as the animals bleated in alarm, rushing past the four.

Gabriel, in his guise of a billy goat, stomped past Ezekiel, and then with an internal chuckle, kicked out with his rear legs, landing contact square on Ezekiels' behind. The angel cursed as he was sent sprawling forward into the dirt. With a growl, he spun around and held up his sword, but Gabriel was already moving, his hooves kicking up dirt as he chased down the other goats until he was out of sight.

Only then he stood up and teleported back to the Healing Garden. He had no time to lose. If he was going to save Zadkiel, he would have to do it himself.

By the time he rounded the corner, he found her standing by the edge of the pool. She rested on the sturdy trunk of a palm tree, and lifted her chin to him when he arrived.

"I am ready," she said. Gabriel came up short on words.

Of course she knew his plans, this close it was practically impossible to avoid it - unless he was actively blocking her, which had had not been. Gabriel admitted that he had been getting sloppy, and vowed quietly to remedy that as soon as they were free of Heaven.

"It may not be safe for you," he argued, even though he and Zadkiel both knew he'd made up his mind. It was a formality, a chance for her to back out.

"You think I am safe here?" Zadkiel asked. "What happens when Uriel learns I lied about your location?"

He had already thought about this. The solution was as simple as it was dangerous. Zadkiel had to leave Heaven with him, today, and until they came up with a cure for what was eating away at her, she could not return.

"You do realise, that if you do this, you'll likely die… out there?"

"I'm aware. But at least it will be on my terms, Gabe," she replied. She was calm, her expression showing that she had accepted her fate. She could not stay here.

Gabriel cursed under his breath, and then nodded. "Time moves faster there, I have no idea how it will affect this… poison inside of you."

"I will take my chances with you," she said, her eyes strong, her conviction clear.

With a short nod, he took her hand, and then led her away to the portal that would take them back to Niagara Falls.

"Hold your breath," he instructed. "Where we're landing isn't going to be your princess pool here." She chuckled at him, nodding and then taking a deep breath.

Together, the angels stepped into the vortex, instantly catapulted through the air until they hit water. Freezing. Breathtaking. Strong… the current picked them up and carried them away.

Gabriel lamented the fact that he would be unable to make his reappearance for the tourists, leading to a much more dramatic exit than he'd planned. And then he visualised his favourite place on Earth.

They landed, dripping wet, in the middle of a hotel lobby, scaring the concierge half to death.

"Monsieur LaMont!" He exclaimed, his eyes taking in the state of Gabriel and his companion. "We did not know you were due to arrive."

"Ah!" Gabriel said, with a flourish of his hand. "A little …. chopper trouble, my good man. And it is _so hot here_ we simply had to jump in the pool as soon as we arrived."

The pool was on the 24th floor, so how they'd managed that had gone ignored. Soon, Gabriel and Zadkiel found themselves in the penthouse suite, wrapped in warm, fluffy towels.

Gabriel turned to his sister and smiled. "You're gonna love it here. I have ordered a massage from Charlie - the best in the business, I swear - and he will be here momentarily. I'm so happy you're here, Zad. I swear it to you," his eyes grew serious as he stepped closer. "I'm going to take care of you. We're going to fix this."

 **Fourth Realm of Heaven - 3rd Sphere**

Sariel found herself troubled by the appearance of the goats. She couldn't quite put her finger on the reason why, but they had unsettled her even though Raziel had found no sign of anyone else when she and Ezekiel had quickly searched the area.

"We need you with us sister!" Raziel said once she returned, stepping forward. "Take up your sword again, in your rightful place. Not as some lap dog to Michael, who has clearly lost his way."

"Michael has his reasons," Sariel defended her counterpart. "He would not be sending me …"

"Who says it's him giving the orders?" Ezekiel pressed. "Have you spoken to him yourself?"

Sariel's doubt showed in her eyes and Raziel nodded knowingly at her, stepping up and taking Sariel's hands in her own.

"I know you're afraid," she said, "we all were, at first, too. But, we have been holding the flame for hundreds of years. No one knows the Legion still stands, not yet." Sariel's eyes widened as the ramifications of what Raziel was saying settled in.

Somewhere, in the shadows of Heaven was a force waiting to be summoned.

"What are you saying?" Sariel asked.

"We stand ready, just as we always have. Some are hidden, most are doing their jobs, just like us - waiting for the moment to strike," Raziel replied. "I have kept the hope alive, that one day She would be returned to us."

Sariel felt a stab of guilt - that had been her responsibility, and she'd failed. Remiel saw the admission in her eyes, and stepped forward.

"Now is the time to take action. There is a plot within Heaven. Our Father has been gone too long, Sariel. No one knows where he is. There are some among us who grow restless. They are seeking to break the seals and release Lucifer from his bonds, to bring on the Apocalypse and watch the world burn."

Sariel had seen this vision thousands of years ago, during the writing of the book of Revelations. It spoke of a world, consumed by chaos, the fire rising from Hell below to swallow it whole. The only way to force it back would be for Michael to rise against Lucifer, to bring him down as he did the first time. But millions of innocents - human and angel alike - would perish in the wake of destruction.

"The Northmen spoke of Ragnarok, centuries past now," Sariel said, looking at them. "They say it cannot be stopped. It will come to pass as it has been foretold."

"Pagans and heretics!" Ezekiel frowned, his eyes looking troubled. "They do not understand the world of God as it is given them. The world turns, in cycles, yes - but the Darkness? The Apocalypse? That does not have to come to pass," he said with a strength Sariel didn't feel. "We can stop it, if Father will not return to heed our cries, then perhaps our _Mother_ will."

"You can't be serious?" Sariel asked. "The last time she walked in Heaven, she tried to awaken the Darkness. She wanted to _destroy_ everything!"

"Do you know why our Father locked her way, Sariel?" Ezekiel countered. "Because he would cease to exist if he destroys her! Light cannot exist without dark, male without female… the cosmic balance would be broken. Everything would fall. But I am not the only one who says that we are falling into Darkness regardless. She may as well be gone from us - and God? Where is He?! Gone too."

Sariel bit her lip, pondering what he was saying. He wasn't the first to have said it to her - Layiel herself had said it.

" _Sariel, it is too late for me. You are now tasked with keeping our Mother's legacy alive. Keep_ Her _alive in the hearts of her creations, the new humans she has created. Without her there is no balance, only chaos. It may take a millennia, maybe two, but surely as day turns to night, this world will sink into Armageddon and wipe out all we see and more."_

She shivered, thinking about how true her sister had been.

"War is coming, Sariel. Rumours abound… there is a breach into Heaven, and _they_ are coming."

"Impossible," Sariel said.

"Is it?" Raziel insisted. "It's not the first time."

"There hasn't been a breach in four hundred years," Sariel said.

"Then I say we're about due," Ezekiel said. "They've been _biding their time…_ waiting for when Heaven is at its weakest. We're complacent. God is missing in action. There is no better time that to strike now."

"Then maybe Michael is right to seek his Vessel," Sariel argued. "If war is coming."

"Avoiding it, rather than allowing it to happen, is a better option," Remiel said.

"If there is a breach, it is coming from within," Raziel said.

"Uriel!" Ezekiel accused, his eyes flashing with fury.

"Uriel may be working under Michael's guidance," Remiel stated, turning to Sariel.

"To torture our sister?" Sariel asked."I can't believe that."

"Why not?," Ezekiel said. "Who has seen him recently? Anyone? He hasn't answered my summons in months. _No one_ has spoken to him for any amount of time, not even _you_ Sariel." He said it with such certainty, Sariel wished she could deny it, but he was correct. Michael had been in the highest sphere of Heaven for millennia. He had, as the highest ranking angel, taken over the running of Heaven when their Father had disappeared. Even Sariel had not received visitation from him of recent years.

"He may not even be aware of what is happening," Sariel stated. "He _runs_ Heaven. I have only a handful of duties and they are huge, imagine his burden. I refuse to believe he would set about creating the Apocalypse. For what reason?"

The others shrugged, and frowned at the red-haired warrior.

"We need you to find out who is behind this, if _Michael_ is behind it," Raziel said plainly.

"You want me to spy on Michael?"

"We want you to speak to him, alone, and discover the truth from him," Remiel said. Sariel nodded, but in her heart she felt lost.

' _Michael?'_ She sent a soft prayer out to her twin, waiting to see if a reply would come.

Nothing.

"And one more thing," Ezekiel said, stepping closer. Sariel looked at him questioningly, crossing her arms in front of her chest. Ezekiel raised his eyebrow, and then tilted his head to the side. "We need to speak to Gabriel."

She started to open her mouth, to deny she'd had any contact with the missing angel, but the look from all three of her companions told her that it would be falling on deaf ears. Instead she sighed.

"I need to think about what you have told me," Sariel said finally. There really was only one person she could turn to right now, and the thought of going to _him_ with a plea for help was causing her stomach to churn.

"Don't take too long, Sariel," Ezekiel said after a pause. "Those of us on the Third Sphere don't have the luxury of time."

Sariel frowned, looking at him. If what he said was true, it seemed logical that the conspirators against Heaven would keep their work to the physical realms, where they could move faster, plan their actions against both Heaven and Hell. Those on the upper spheres moved in different ways, the bigger picture the greater concern, not that of the mere trifles of humanity. They would not be so eager to step in and action a war without proof. Even then it might take a hundred years of Earth time to convince them to step in.

With a nod at her companions, Sariel stepped over to the Tree, following the energy lines with her own. Taking a deep breath, she dove into the etheric plane and allowed herself to be carried down. It was like riding a ray of light, and tuning a radio at the same time.

Her body knew where it was going before her mind admitted the destination. She couldn't explain why she was pulled to find him again, seek out his advice, but she followed the instinct just the same.

"Gabriel…" she thought, allowing herself to tune in to his energy signature. Now that she knew his guise, it was easier, not completely foolproof but enough that she could get close.

With each slight movement in the direction of her destination, Sariel found herself moving so quickly that she almost gasped for breath as she landed, feet first, in a field outside a large and expansive city.

To the right of her was a large billboard, advertising XXX girls, and welcoming travelers to _Vegas._ She frowned… squinting at the city in the distance and allowing her energy to take in the vibe of its inhabitants. What she felt fly back at her was a torrent of greed, lust, wrath… all of the sins were here. Not the literal demonic version of the Sins of course, they were safely banished to Hell where they belonged, but their essence was well and truly alive as sure was Sodom and Gomorrah had been ready to fall.

Gabriel was a loose cannon, neglectful of his duties in Heaven, and too unpredictable to rely on for assistance beyond what he wanted to give. Yet here she was about to enter among gamblers, and thieves, liars, and seductresses - the home of all things loud and garish, a homage to the sins of the earthy plane.

 _Naturally,_ she thought, _I would find him here._

 **Las Vegas, Nevada  
** _ **3 days later**_

He'd known she would be coming eventually.

At least Sariel knew how to find him. He'd deliberately attuned his energy to her for that purpose, made it easier. She had been away from Earth too long, whereas he had been here for a millennia - among the bottom feeders, the mud monkeys, and he loved every minute of it. If Gabriel wanted to disappear again, he could, but for now he perhaps needed Sariel as much as she needed him.

Oh he hadn't let her find him right away, no Gabriel was enjoying himself way too much for that. Gabriel felt alive with every moment he spent on Earth, and knowing it might all come to an end at any time. As soon as he'd felt Sariel's presence, Gabriel had started to track her, and then, he'd started to mess with her.

Zadkiel didn't approve of the way Gabriel's methods, but she was too weak to argue too much. He'd left her upstairs, soaking in the private pool. It seemed to be the only place that made her feel better and he'd done everything he could to make her comfortable, setting the pool up with some of her favourite water plants and flowers. Sure, the maid would have trouble explaining to management about how a jungle had grown on the balcony over night, but that wasn't Gabriel's concern - he was focused on Sariel.

Sariel. Proud, wilful, and absolutely stunning. Gabriel couldn't deny the attraction he'd been feeling to her the last few days. It didn't change the fact that he was furious at her inaction about Zadkiel, but it did take the edge off a little. He had been letting her suffer for the last two days, pitting dead end against dead end in an effort to blow off steam before he encountered her.

He'd enjoyed the last few days, watching the angel trying to find him in the huge city. He gave her a few glimpses here and there, just enough to keep her going - so she wouldn't give up and return to Heaven. She had to feel that she was in control, like she was going to have the upper hand.

But he was in control.

Today, he had decided, was the day he was going to make contact.

He followed Sariel through a small gathering of people who were smiling and joking, talking about the show they had just been to - an Elvis impersonation. Gabriel made a note that he would have to see it later, he _loved_ Elvis.

In fact, that was perfect! With the snap of his fingers, Gabriel found himself in a small private bar. A small stage held a standing microphone, and with another snap of his fingers all the patrons disappeared, and on stage appeared _Elvis._ Not the real one, mind you, even Gabriel couldn't bring back the dead. But the impersonator would have to do.

"Thank you for agreeing to this private show, my good man," called out Gabriel, seeing the confusion on the man's face.

"Uh, what …?"

He snapped his fingers again, and the man's expression changed to a smile, and he nodded.

"You're welcome, it's my pleasure sir."

As the man started singing, Gabriel let himself melt into the back of the room, and waited.

It didn't take long for Sariel to follow the signature of his energy, and enter into the bar. She glanced around, frowning. He watched, feeling himself strangely turned on by her presence. Sariel moved to the bar, spoke briefly to the bartender (who still remained) who shook his head negatively at her question: he hadn't seen a blonde man in here.

She turned to watch the stage and then strode forward to stand in front of the performer.

"Stop playing games, Gabriel!" She called out. Gabriel saw the confusion flicker across the man's face, but he was a true artist, and kept going. That was his cue, Gabriel slipped his angel sword out of his jacket sleeve and teleported to behind Sariel, bringing it up to her throat as he wrapped his free arm around her waist.

"Sariel, so nice of you to drop by."


End file.
